


Tectonic Shift

by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Empire, Galra Lore, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 05:05:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13287612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni
Summary: Sendak doesn’t know what the Red Lion is when he finds her -- tucked into the hollows of a magma swamp on some backwater planet. But she is magnificent and once he claims the planet in the name of the empire, he takes her as a spoil of the war. Haxus knows what she is in an instant, and speaks the name Voltron with such certainty that Sendak can no longer believe it’s a myth. By all rights, Sendak is obligated to tell Emperor Zarkon what he’s found -- but he can’t. He hides her away on his ship, seeking a bond with her he doesn’t entirely understand. She is part of the history that the Galra of the new empire don’t even remember, a history that is all his lieutenant has left. He intends to keep her secret, safe until he knows just what having her means.





	Tectonic Shift

**Author's Note:**

> My first of three submissions to the [Aphelion Zine](https://aphelionzine.tumblr.com/). I am very appreciative to the mods and my beta for making my participation in this zine possible. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

When Haxus found the commander, he was down in the deepest parts of the battlecruiser, in the Red Lion’s hangar. It still took him aback to see the monstrous prosthetic on Sendak’s arm; curled the corners of his mouth and turned up his hackles. It wasn’t right, and he could be told from now until doomsday that it was “an honor” and “a good fit” and he would still find it an abomination. Not that Sendak didn’t bear it well and use it to its full potential so quickly after his recovery, but it shouldn’t have had to be in the first place. He lingered in the doorway until he could compose himself again, then approached. It was likely Sendak already knew he was there, for all that his attention seemed fully fixed on the Lion. 

Haxus stepped up next to him and clasped his hands behind his back. “Sir.”

“We will depart for the Hub soon,” Sendak said, dispensing with any formalities. 

“Will you be delivering your prize to Emperor Zarkon then?”

Sendak was silent for a long moment. “No.”

“No?” Haxus echoed. Though he felt relief flutter in his chest, he knew what kind of risk hiding something like this from Zarkon meant for Sendak. They might not just stop at one arm this time. Zarkon had been enforcing the hunt for the Lions of Voltron since before Sendak rose in the ranks. Down in the barracks, most of the Galra who had never lived to see the legend thought him spouting bedtime stories. For surely, nothing was powerful enough to take on the Galra empire now. 

They were wrong.

Sendak was watching him, and even if the shift of Haxus’s features was slight, surely he read something in them. “What is the beast? How familiar are you with this ‘legend’, Haxus?”

Haxus’s brow crinkled, ears flickering back. “More familiar than most of the remaining Galra and less than I would like to be. No one has seen a Lion for a very, very long time, including myself.”

“It needs a pilot.”

“Aye, Sir.” Haxus was not a pilot. All told, Sendak wasn’t either, but the opportunity was there for him to learn. It just hadn’t been Sendak’s interest when he’d risen in the ranks. His specialty and preference had always been strategy and combat. But Haxus had no doubt Sendak could learn to pilot a ship -- a  _ Lion _ \-- and be able to apply that same brilliant mind to the tactics of flight. It would be incredible to behold. But even if that were possible, that was all assuming that Zarkon didn’t realize the Red Lion was on their ship by the time they were properly docked. He thought to suggest leaving the Lion stowed somewhere, but he knew how the commander thought. There was no way Sendak would risk something so precious being found by anyone else. He would rather risk Zarkon sensing the deception than leave it behind. That stubbornness had already earned him a visit with the druids he was still recovering from. Haxus didn’t want to see it happen again so soon. He bit his tongue against the warning he so dearly wanted to give and waited.

“Tell me more.”

Haxus took a deep breath. “At one time, back when we still had our home planet, the Galra were represented across the universe by one of the paladins of Voltron. Pilots of five magnificent magitech crafts, one of which you are looking at right now. By merging each of those five ships, they formed a single craft called ‘Defender of the Universe’. . I know not the specific details of how such a thing is possible, but I do know that the pilots had to have as strong a bond with each other as they did with the Lion itself. Those bonds are driven by the quintessence of the pilots. To make Voltron move as one being, they had to be of one mind.”

“Who represented our empire, Haxus?”

The lieutenant’s lips pressed into a thin line. His eyes narrowed up at the Red Lion, and while he knew the blame was not with the Lions, especially not this one, he still couldn’t help the thrum of betrayal running down his spine. The forced separation of pilot and Lion followed by ten thousand years of war had torn a deep and irreparable wound into the Galra as a people, starting with the one who rose above them all.

“ _ Haxus. _ ”

His mouth was dry. “Emperor Zarkon.”

Sendak’s frown could either have been from hearing what he’d already guessed or suddenly realizing why Haxus had been so surprised he would hide the Lion’s presence from Zarkon. He looked back up at the beast.

Haxus remained quiet for another moment, watching Sendak's face pinch, as if trying to imagine their leader in one of these Lions. Haxus hesitated for only a moment, then made up his mind.

"Come with me, Sendak."

Without waiting to hear an acknowledgement, Haxus turned and headed for the hangar doors. There was a tightness in his chest, though he tried not to pay it any heed. What was to follow was something that likely should have happened long before now, but the timing had never been right. In fact, Haxus wasn't entirely certain this was the right time either; but what he did know was that Sendak deserved the truth, and he was going to make sure he he gave it. As they moved through the hallways of the battlecruiser, their boots echoed in a strange harmony with the rhythmic march of sentries close by. Haxus drummed up memories that he never actively tried to forget but instead kept quiet and tucked away. Though he had done his best to stay beneath Zarkon’s notice, being Sendak’s second in command sometimes made that difficult. So much had gone unsaid for both his own safety and Sendak’s, and now he was about to change that.

He placed his hand on the pad by the door to his quarters, earning a raised eyebrow from Sendak. This was far from the first time he'd been allowed to enter Haxus' private space, but they respected one another's privacy. They kept their own nests, their own personal effects, and only entered when invited.

"Once," Haxus said as he beckoned Sendak inside, "the Galra were a prosperous people with a planet we called home and several peaceful trade agreements with other planets in our system. We had no need to rule the universe, nor did we try. Zarkon was part of an alliance that existed to ensure our protection and the protection of those around us." Haxus motioned for Sendak to sit upon the mat where his nest was arranged. Only after a moment's hesitation did Sendak sink down while Haxus moved to a lockbox beneath his armor case. "The life we live now is the direct result of an attack on our home planet, by a militaristic race that sought power through conquest, just as the Galra empire does now. There is a saying that history tends to repeat itself, and I can attest."

"Haxus..." Sendak's voice was thick. " _ Teacher _ . You saw..."

"Yes, I did. My knowledge of Voltron and the Lions is not because I have been hearing the tales longer than you have, but because I have seen it with my own eyes. And I have seen the burden that being one of its paladins can be." From the lockbox, Haxus pulled out a worn leather satchel, the cloth still preserved but faded over time. Soft corners jutted out, there were still items inside of it, but Haxus made no move to reveal them. "This, the clothing on my back, and the children in my class are the only things I could save when we evacuated the planet."

Sendak's features were carefully schooled while he took this all in, reaching out with one hand to touch the satchel with care, as if it would vanish if he applied too much pressure. The whole time, Haxus watched him. "You...were there." He looked up again, meeting Haxus's gaze. "I knew you had me well bested in years lived, Teacher, but I didn't know this."

"You had no reason to suspect, though you never sought to question why no one else around you celebrated the feast days."

Sendak's chuckle was low, devoid of actual humor. "It's not that I didn't question, it's that I assumed they were ignorant of the ritual."

That prompted Haxus to smile as well, grim. "Well, in some cases you are not wrong, but there are few enough Galra alive to remember what the feast days were, much less practice them. It would seem that some traditions fell to make way for new ones. Perhaps I am just old-fashioned."

"You don't say."

"Careful, cub. I can still best you in combat, so have some respect."

Sendak withdrew his hand and rested it on his leg. "So why are you telling me this now?"

"Because that Lion is a sign of change. Having it here, on the ship, holds just as many risks for you as it does opportunity. When we fled our planet, when Zarkon turned his back on the paladins of voltron and set off on his path for vengeance, none of us could have fathomed what it would do to the empire that remained. We had no opportunity to make new roots, there was no chance to start over. What we rebuilt was nothing but a tool for vengeance. I risk treason this very moment for what I am about to say, and you may heed it as you will. Emperor Zarkon would tell you the first people he destroyed on his quest to become the strongest force in the universe was the Alteans. In reality, the first people he destroyed was his own. We have conquered and we have become something to be feared, but if the Lions of Voltron have not been destroyed, as we were led to believe, if the rest of them exist, the tide of this war is going to change and nothing will stop that. I may not know much, but I do know that once one awakens, the others will follow; and now, the Galra have become the entity the universe needs to be defended from. The lives of the new paladins will exist to end our tyranny."

Sendak's breathing had slowed. He was controlling it so very tightly.

He understood.

The silence stretched between them as Haxus gathered up the satchel and returned it to its lockbox. A scent had filled the air of his quarters in the the time the box had been opened, sweet like berries and herbal. Haxus took in a deep breath of it before closing and locking the box again.

"You expect the empire to fall." It wasn't a question.

"I expect the empire to be reborn again," Haxus replied. His hands lingered on the carvings etched in the lid, worn and faded after so long in hiding. In some ways, they had all been reborn, hadn’t they? He tucked it back into its hiding place and straightened. 

Sendak had been watching him the whole time, quiet and considering. It was his way. In the silence that stretched between them, Haxus begun thinking about the red Lion again. How incredible would it be to have defenders of the universe once more? How daunting would it be to know that those paladins would be hunting down his own kind. It would be like being made to relive all of that destruction all over again. He supposed everything had come around full circle now, and he wondered what part Sendak would play in it.

As if he sensed that Haxus wanted some time alone to think, Sendak rose up from the bed and started to move towards the door. Haxus shifted to watch him, and it was remarkable how much he had grown into the mantle of commander. It seemed as though it hadn't been that long ago that he'd been pulling a half-grown cub from the lowest ranks of the creche and beginning his training. To have come this far and seen Sendak accomplish this much only made it seem fitting that the Lion had come to be on this ship. Haxus may have been tired, but he was also proud. He couldn't help feeling that Sendak's ascent was far from over.

"Teacher?"

"Mm?" Haxus drew himself out of his thoughts again and looked at Sendak.

He lingered by the door, no longer looking at him but thoughtful. "If it were you, what would you do?"

"With the Lion, sir?"

A single nod.

Haxus chuckled and crossed his arms. "I suppose my actions wouldn't be all that different from your own, Sendak. Even if I didn't know her for what she was, I would have taken her aboard my ship. I would have spent time with her, thought about what it would be like to pilot her. Perhaps if I didn't think I was meant for the task, I would start finding out who would be before she fell into less...capable hands. Perhaps I would risk it all just to see her awakened to her former glory."

"Even at the risk of the Empire."

The corner of Haxus's mouth twitched. "Maybe especially."

Sendak grinned, all teeth and challenge. "Thank you. I'll take my leave to the bridge."

“Are you reconsidering your earlier decision, Commander?”

“No.” The response was unyielding.

Haxus flashed a wry smile with a hint of sharp fangs. “I can’t seem to keep you out of trouble, Sir.”

“That is never likely to change.”


End file.
